Parties and Bowling with sensory struggles...

[Blossom4538]

Dd is anxious and has sensory struggles, dislikes certain and loud noises. I've always avoided bowling due to the noise.
Dd never gets invited to parties anymore and has now been invited to a bowling party!
She gets anxious about parties, wants to go but finds it quite hard and we always have a rough few hours beforehand. She is however sad that she isn't getting invited to parties anymore. What would u do?!

Sometimes I explain the issue to the parents and say we'll arrive a bit late to the party. A shorter party might be easier to manage.

My dc also struggles with this and was invited to a party last minute so no time to work up to it. We needed to decline the invite but arranged a special treat and told dc we couldn't go as we had something special booked as a surprise that clashed.

Then we did project densensitise on the bowling - in three stages. First we just went somewhere else on the same complex and popped in to use the loo, then went there again after another local activity just to use various games (air hockey etc). The third time we actually did bowling and helped them win a few games. Bizarrely that worked. I don't know if any of this might help?

So next time there is an invite we will accept but it took three weeks work to get to this point!

My son has Spd and we go bowling quite a lot, we just ask them to turn down the music and explain and generally they are fine, I think sometimes we worry to much for them and they can surprise us xx

My DS has ear defenders for noisy environments. We got them from Screwfix of all places. They also have a cable to use as headphones, which you can unplug. He had some from Sensory Direct but they were not as good. The ear defenders make a big difference in noisy environments and they just look like headphones. He is fine with bowling but only one game because it is still sensory overload with the lights.

But he hates parties and they make him nervous and agitated and his behaviour goes awry. We have been to parties and had to leave; I have accepted invitations for him and had to decline thereafter; I have just replied saying he finds parties difficult and I am not sure if we will come. I am just working on play dates, really.